Violent sex pest recalled to prison

A VIOLENT sex attacker is back behind bars after he was caught repeatedly trawling for prostitutes.

Mark Shepherd had been allowed out of jail early after being sentenced to 18 months for a brutal attack in which he broke a teenager's jaw and indecently assaulted her.

She was the third woman he had attacked, a judge had been told.

Since he was freed on licence he has been caught three times on the streets wanting to buy sex.

Last December he became only the second man convicted of kerb-crawling in Reading in modern times and now the 40-year-old has been recalled to prison after being caught again.

A police source told the Evening Post: "He was reported to the Crown Prosecution Service in connection with an alleged kerb-crawling

incident in Reading in May.

"He had rung in to say he had been robbed by some people but it became clear there were prostitutes and there had been a dispute.

"He was reported and since it was his third offence in a year, probation went to the Home Office and he was recalled because of his behaviour.

"He had the Home Office recall papers served on him at his home address."

Shepherd, of Norwich Drive, Woodley, was sentenced to 18 months in December 2000 at Reading Crown Court after Judge Stanley Spence was told he had followed a woman from a Bracknell nightclub in the early hours of May 15, 1999, and pushed her down a steep embankment.

He hit her twice in the face, knocking her out before undoing her trousers and indecently

assaulting her.

Police knew Shepherd's car but he evaded them for 18 months after changing the vehicle, during which time he looked for news of the attack in local newspapers.

He was eventually caught through DNA.

Judge Spence was told that Shepherd had previously indecently assaulted two strangers after putting a knife to their throats.

As he jailed Shepherd, Judge Spence ruled that he be put on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years after labelling the attack "a shameful crime".

The register helps police track and monitor sex offenders.

However, Judge Spence's order could not be enforced Under the Sex Offenders' Act 1997 anyone convicted of any of 10 sex offences - including indecent assault and rape - must be put on the

register for anything from five years to an indefinite period.

However, criminals cannot be placed on the register if the victim is 18 or over and the defendant was jailed for less than 30 months for indecent assault.

Shepherd's sentence was only 18 months and his Bracknell victim was 18 at the time of the attack.

Judge Spence also placed Shepherd on an extended licence of five years following his release from prison.

The police source said: "It was frustrating as the judge intended for Shepherd to be on the Sex Offenders' Register and that would have meant we could monitor him."

Last December Shepherd was fined £200 after admitting soliciting a prostitute in Prospect Street in West Reading.

Eight months earlier he was fined £150 for the same offfence in Swindon.